Last night, the scout pack the elder son is a member of headed to downtown Pittsford for a glimpse behind the scenes of how the governmental wheels turn. His eminence, Town Supervisor Bill Carpenter, consented to meet with the scouts prior to the town meeting. When I told my son in the car on the way to the meeting that I knew the supervisor, and that he had bought me a cheeseburger, from the back seat I received, “Yeah, dad, I know sarcasm when I hear it.” I tried to convince the boy that I did know him, but to no avail. Similarly, captivating a group of 9 year old scouts may not be the easiest task to handle, yet Carpenter delivered a wealth of information about being a citizen, town history, and in general how things work around here.

Local Scouts grilling the Town Supervisor like a Zweigle.

When it came time to fielding questions though, it was more like an Ali-Frasier match. One scout asked repeatedly about taxes, and what happens if you don’t pay them (after the second year, your name gets published, and after that, your property can be had by anyone who pays the debt). I believe the same scout also asked how much the supervisor makes in a year (a future economist? attorney?). Other concerns voiced by the scouts centered on if the schools will be open all year (and no idea where that came from, perhaps some sort of parental paranoia dinner talk), which Carpenter deflected, since control of the schools is out of his domain.

The scouts were there to work on their citizenship badges, and there was a healthy discussion about what a citizen is, and the responsibilities of being one. And to make sure that theme held fast, at the end of the meeting Carpenter asked the students what being a citizen meant, and what they had learned. One scout announced that he learned it’s not good to kill people. While that certainly is an aspect of good citizenship, I’m not too sure where that was covered in the meeting (maybe I was checking my camera settings and missed it). I’m sure Carpenter breathed a sigh of relief, and felt gratitude at turning a youth in the right direction. What Carpenter didn’t know was the last scout meeting involved handing out the rewards from the popcorn sales, and as most scouts chose knives, had the citizenship discussion not gone the way it did, well, let’s not dwell on what might have been. I would guess that you can look forward to metal detectors being installed at the Town Hall in the near future, or bodyguards for elected officials, or both.

After the Meet & Greet we all trekked down to the cellar for the Town Board Meeting, and I told my boy he was about to see government in action. Personally, I am a fan of CSPAN, I like legal dramas (well, the good movie ones like “12 Angry Men” or “The Verdict,” for example), and watching the goings on was pretty interesting. At one point they were discussing whether or not to apply for a grant for solar powered cells to be put on top of the library and highway garage. It was good to see an open discussion, and while I don’t understand why there was a question of when the equipment would pay for itself if it was fully funded, the banter was rational and level headed, not like, say, the House of Commons or West Side Story. On the downside, I think my boy mentally checked out early in the meeting, procedural affairs not interesting enough for him. On the upside, I think that’s the first time he’s been asleep before 9 pm in about half a decade. But that’s not the board’s fault, more like the narrow attention span of today’s youth. On the way out, I asked him how he liked seeing government in action, and wasn’t it exciting to see how things worked. In return, I got a “no, dad, video games are exciting,” and off we went into the cold night air. At least at this point he now believed I knew the supervisor, and I was telling the truth about a free cheeseburger.

moved to Pittsford as a teenager and attended Pittsford-Mendon High School. Her greatest passion is as a lover of and advocate for the arts and music. Donna attended Rhode Island School of Design and earned an MFA from R.I.T. She’s a free-lance art director, advertising photographer and copywriter. Her love of narrative and film has led her to direct and produce short films.

Donna developed her awareness of and concern for environmental issues after being
exposed to the chemicals in artist materials in art schools in the US and Canada which
made her ill for a time. Healthy today, she finds pleasure in nature, writing, and music.
She enjoys Pittsford for its picturesque locations, wildlife, and community involvement.

was born in Rochester, lived here for a while until his dad was transferred to Connecticut ("Thanks, Xerox."). Then a few years later they came back to Fairport ("Thanks again, Xerox."), but Bill went to Pittsford schools. He moved over to Pittsford in 1979. He worked a bunch of jobs, played in bands, went back to MCC and then U of R for a Bachelor's degree in the early 90's. Shortly after that, he moved to NYC with his wife, Laura, where he worked at Ogilvy & Mather and Christie's doing tech support. They moved out to Northern Virginia during the Internet boom, hoping to get rich quick, but missed that boat. They moved back to Pittsford in 2001, along with two boys. Bill still plays guitar with the Chinchillas, the Squeaky Chair Jazz band, and the Steve Greene Trio occasionally.

"Though all communities and areas get a certain reputation (deserved or not), there is a good quality of life here, and the bulk of the people I have met here and places I have been to reflect that," Bill says. "My reason for wanting to blog about the town is at least twofold -- to vent my views and continue with writing, but also to force myself to engage in the environment in which I live. Too many people complain there is nothing to do or see, but they never actually get out and look. I don't want to be like that."